Rusthall St Paul s C. E. Primary School. SEN & Disability Policy/SEN Information Report

Transcription

1 Rusthall St Paul s C. E. Primary School SEN & Disability Policy/SEN Information Report SEN Co-ordinator: Miss Caroline Hodgkins Link Governor: Theresa White Reviewed: November 2015 Next Review: November 2016 Approved by: (Chair of Governors)

2 This policy is written in line with the requirements of:- Children and Families Act 2014 SEN Code of Practice 2014 SI Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 Part 3 Duties on Schools Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators Schedule 1 regulation 51 Information to be included in the SEN information report Schedule 2 regulation 53 Information to be published by a local authority in its local offer Equality Act 2010 Schools Admissions Code, DfE 1 Feb 2012 SI The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 SI The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 This policy should be read in conjunction with other school policies (Safeguarding Policy, Behaviour Policy, Equalities Policy, and Complaints Policy). This policy was developed with the SEN co-ordinator, the SEN governor, parents of children with SEN and parents of children without SEN. The policy was put on the school website for a four week consultation period and all parents were invited to comment during this time. This policy will be reviewed annually. Definition of SEN A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she: 16 has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions SEN Code of Practice (2015, p 15/16) Definition of disabilitymany children and young people who have SEN may have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 that is a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. This definition provides a relatively low threshold and includes more children than many realise: long-term is defined as a year or more and substantial is defined as more than minor or trivial. This definition includes sensory impairments such as those affecting sight or hearing, and long-term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, and cancer. Children and young people with such conditions do not necessarily have SEN, but there is a significant overlap between disabled children and young people and those with SEN. Where a disabled child or young person requires special educational provision they will also be covered by the SEN definition. SEN Code of Practice (2015, p16)

3 1 What kinds of special educational need is provision made for at Rusthall St. Paul s? At Rusthall St. Paul s we can make provision for every kind of frequently occurring special educational need without a statement of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plan, for instance dyslexia, dyspraxia, speech and language needs, autism, Asperger s syndrome, learning difficulties, social, emotional and behaviour difficulties. There are other kinds of special educational need which do not occur as frequently and with which the school is less familiar, but we can access available training and advice so that these kinds of needs can be met. The school also currently meets the needs of pupils with a statement of special educational need / Education, Health and Care plan with the following kinds of special educational need: Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), moderate learning difficulties, physical difficulties and speech, language and communication needs. Decisions on the admission of pupils with a statement of special educational need / Education, Health and Care plan are made by the Local Authority. The admission arrangements for pupils without a statement of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plan do not discriminate against or disadvantage disabled children or those with special educational needs. 2 What is our policy for identification and assessment of pupils with SEN? At Rusthall St. Paul s we monitor the progress of all pupils five times a year to review their academic progress. We also use a range of assessments with all the pupils at various points such as NfER (verbal and non-verbal) tests in Year 5; non-statutory SATs tests in Years 1, 3, 4 and 5; statutory SATs in Years 2 and 6; Accelerated reader assessments in Years 3, 4, 5 & 6; reading and spelling age test as appropriate in Key Stage 2; Phonics screening in Year 1. Where progress is not sufficient, even if special educational need has not been identified, we put in place extra support to enable the pupil to catch up. Examples of extra support are: daily reading, Building Reading Stamina (BRS), Getting to Level 3 (booster maths), writing booster groups, Lego groups, Sound Progress, speech and language programmes, Clever Hands, Fizzy, Jump Ahead, Sensory Circuits, counselling, play therapy and drama therapy. Some pupils may continue to make inadequate progress, despite high-quality teaching targeted at their areas of weakness. For these pupils, and in consultation with parents, we will use a range assessment tools to determine the cause of the learning difficulty. At Rusthall St. Paul s we are experienced in using the following assessment tools: Boxall profile, speech link, language link, Renfrew language scales, dyslexia screener. We have access to external advisors who are able to use the following assessment tools: SDQs by the Specialist Teacher for Communication and Interaction; Resilience Test by the Specialist Teacher for Behaviour; Dyscalculic Processing Assessment, STLS Holistic Assessment, YARC Comprehension Test, Vocabulary Tests, Reading Tests, Raven s Matrices, BPVS and Leuven Scales by the Specialist Teacher for Cognition and Learning.

4 The purpose of this more detailed assessment is to understand what additional resources and different approaches are required to enable the pupil to make better progress. These will be shared with parents, put into a SEN support plan and reviewed regularly, and refined / revised if necessary. At this point we will have identified that the pupil has a special educational need because the school is making special educational provision for the pupil which is additional and different to what is normally available. If the pupil is able to make good progress using this additional and different resource (but would not be able to maintain this good progress without it) we will continue to identify the pupil as having a special educational need. If the pupil is able to maintain good progress without the additional and different resources he or she will not be identified with special educational needs. When any change in identification of SEN is changed parents will be notified. We will ensure that all teachers and support staff who work with the pupil are aware of the support to be provided and the teaching approaches to be used. 3 What is the school s policy for making provision for pupils with special educational needs whether or not they have EHC Plans, including: 3a How does the school evaluate the effectiveness of its provision for such pupils? Each review will be informed by the views of the pupil, parents and class/subject teachers and the assessment information from teachers which will show whether adequate progress is being made. The SEN Code of Practice (2014, 6.17) describes inadequate progress thus: Is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline Fails to match or better the child s previous rate of progress Fails to close the attainment gap between rate of progress Widens the attainment gap For pupils with or without a statement of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plan there will be regular reviews of the provision made for the child, which will enable an evaluation of the effectiveness of the special provision. The collation of all annual review evaluations of effectiveness will be reported to the governing body. 3b What are the school s arrangements for assessing and reviewing the progress of pupils with special educational needs? Every pupil in the school has their progress tracked five times per year. In addition to this, pupils with special educational needs may have more additional assessments of reading ages, spelling ages etc. The assessments we use at Rusthall St. Paul s are listed in Section 2. Using these it will be possible to see if pupils are increasing their level of skills in key areas. If these assessments do not show adequate progress is being made the SEN support plan will be reviewed and adjusted.

5 3c What is the school s approach to teaching pupils with special educational needs? High quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEN. Additional intervention and support cannot compensate for a lack of good quality teaching. Schools should regularly and carefully review the quality of teaching for all pupils, including those at risk of underachievement. This includes reviewing and, where necessary, improving, teachers understanding of strategies to identify and support vulnerable pupils and their knowledge of the SEN most frequently encountered SEN Code of Practice (2014, 6.37). At Rusthall St. Paul s the quality of teaching is judged to be Requires Improvement in our last Ofsted inspection and the school is working closely with the Local Authority to improve this to good. We are currently on track to achieve this in the near future. We follow the Mainstream Core Standards ( on_and_achievement/publications_and_documents.aspx) advice developed by Kent County Council to ensure that our teaching conforms to best practice. In meeting the Mainstream Core Standards the school employs some additional teaching approaches, as advised by internal and external assessments e.g. one to one support / precision teaching / mentoring, small group teaching, use of ICT software learning packages. These are delivered by additional staff employed through the funding provided to the school as notional SEN funding. 3d How does the school adapt the curriculum and learning environment for pupils with special educational needs? At Rusthall St. Paul s we follow the advice in the Mainstream Core Standards on how to adapt the curriculum and the learning environment for pupils with special educational needs. We also incorporate the advice provided as a result of assessments, both internal and external, and the strategies described in statements of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plans. As part of our requirement to keep the appropriateness of our curriculum and learning environment under review the Governors have recently made the following improvements as part of the school s accessibility planning: improved disabled access to the Junior building, dedicated learning zones, sensory walls, training for staff on different areas of SEN (ASD Early Bird Plus and Social Stories, SEMH teachers and TAs, Team Teach training for all staff, Building Reading Stamina teacher and TAs, Clicker 6) and have identified that the following aspects of the school need to be improved: Use of ICT with ipads or similar. 3e What additional support is available to pupils with special educational needs for learning? As part of our budget we receive notional SEN funding. This funding is used to ensure that the quality of teaching is good in the school and that there are sufficient resources to deploy additional and different teaching for pupils requiring SEN support. The amount of support required for each pupil to make good progress will be different in each case and a full list of

6 the interventions we can offer is on our class provision maps. In very few cases a very high level of resource is required. The funding arrangements require schools to provide up to 6000 per year of resource for pupils with high needs, and above that amount the Local Authority should provide top up to the school (KCC s Schools Funding Forum is currently developing a system for this which will be implemented in April 2015). 3f how will the school enable pupils with special educational needs to engage in activities of the school (including physical activities) together with children who do not have special educational needs? All clubs, trips and activities offered to pupils at Rusthall St. Paul s are available to pupils with special educational needs either with or without a statement of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plan. Where it is necessary, the school will use the resources available to it to provide additional adult support to enable the safe participation of the pupil in the activity. 3g What support is available for improving the emotional and social development of pupils with special educational needs? At Rusthall St. Paul s we understand that an important feature of the school is to enable all pupils to develop emotional resilience and social skills, both through direct teaching for instance: PSHE, circle time, worship, Lego groups, drama therapy, worry tree, mindfulness, lunch club activities and indirectly with every conversation adults have with pupils throughout the day. For some pupils with the most need for help in this area we also can provide the following: 1:1 counselling, play therapy, time with a member of the senior leadership team, referral to the Specialist Teaching and Learning teacher for behaviour, talking time/time out when a child is upset or agitated. Pupils in the early stages of emotional and social development because of their special educational needs will be supported to enable them to develop and mature appropriately. This will usually require additional and different resources, beyond that required by pupils who do not need this support. 4 The name and contact details of the SEN Co-ordinator The SENCo at Rusthall St. Paul s is Miss Caroline Hodgkins, who is a qualified teacher and has been a SENCO since September 2015 and is undertaking the National Award for SEN Coordination from October Miss Caroline Hodgkins is available on or caroline.hodgkins@rusthallcep.kent.sch.uk. Mrs Theresa White is our SEN governor and can be contacted on theresa.white@rusthall-cep.kent.sch.uk. 5 What training have staff had in relation to children and young people with special educational needs and how will specialist expertise will be secured? All teachers and teaching assistants have had the following awareness training: ASD, Team Teach, behaviour training (TAs).

7 In addition we have staff who have received the following enhanced and specialist training: social stories; Early Bird Plus; Social, Emotional and Mental Health; Lego therapy; Comic Strip Conversations; Dyslexia; Sound Progress; Building Reading Stamina; Sensory Circuits; Language for Learning; Talking Partners; Mindfulness Where a training need is identified beyond this we will find a provider who is able to deliver it. Training providers we can approach are Kent Educational Psychology Service (KEPS), Speech and Language Therapy Service, Broomhill Bank, Specialist Teaching and Learning Service, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy. The cost of training is covered by the notional SEN funding. 6 How will equipment and facilities to support children and young people with special educational needs will be secured? Where external advisors recommend the use of equipment or facilities which the school does not have, we will purchase it using the notional SEN funding, or seek it by loan. For highly specialist communication equipment the school will seek the advice of the KCC Communication and Assistive Technology team. 7 What are the arrangements for consulting parents of children with special educational needs about, and involving them in, their education? All parents of pupils at Rusthall St. Paul s are invited to discuss the progress of their children twice a year and receive a written report once per year. In addition we are happy to arrange meetings outside these times. As part of our normal teaching arrangements, all pupils may access some additional teaching to help them catch-up if the progress monitoring indicates that this is necessary; this will not imply that the pupil has a special educational need. All such provision will be recorded, tracked and evaluated on a Provision Map which will be shared with parents twice a year during parent s evenings. If following this normal provision improvements in progress are not seen, we will contact parents to discuss the use of internal or external assessments which will help us to address these needs better. From this point onwards the pupil will be identified as having special educational needs because special educational provision is being made and the parent will be invited to all planning and reviews of this provision. Parents will be actively supported to contribute to assessment, planning and review. In addition to this, parents of pupils with a statement of SEN / Education, Health and Care Plan will be invited to contribute to and attend an annual review, which, wherever possible will also include other agencies involved with the pupil. Information will be made accessible for parents. 8 What are the arrangements for consulting young people with special educational needs about, and involving them in, their education? When a pupil has been identified to have special educational needs because special educational provision is being made for him or her, the pupil will be consulted about and involved in the arrangements made for them as part of person-centred planning. Parents

8 are likely to play a more significant role in the childhood years with the young person taking more responsibility and acting with greater independence in later years. 9 What are the arrangements made by the governing body relating to the treatment of complaints from parents of pupils with special educational needs concerning the provision made at the school? The normal arrangements for the treatment of complaints at Rusthall St. Paul s are used for complaints about provision made for special educational needs. We encourage parents to discuss your concerns with your child s class teacher, SENCo (Miss Caroline Hodgkins) or the Headteacher (Miss Caroline Powell) to resolve the issue before making the complaint formal to the Chair of the governing body. If the complaint is not resolved after it has been considered by the governing body, then a disagreement resolution service or mediation service can be contracted. If it remains unresolved after this, the complainant can appeal to the First tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), if the case refers to disability discrimination, or to the Secretary of State for all other cases. There are some circumstances, usually for children who have a Statement of SEN where there is a statutory right for parents to appeal against a decision of the Local Authority. Complaints which fall within this category cannot be investigated by the school. 10 How might the governing body involve other bodies, including health and social services bodies, local authority support services and voluntary organisations, in meeting the needs of pupils with special educational needs and in supporting the families of such pupils? The governing body may engage with the following bodies:- Free membership of LIFT for access to specialist teaching and learning service A Service Level Agreement with Educational Psychology service for three days per year Link to Disabled Children s Service for support to families for some pupils with high needs Access to local authority s service level agreement with Speech and Language Therapy Services / Occupational Therapy Services / Physiotherapy Services for pupil with requirement for direct therapy or advice Ability to make ad hoc requests for advice from Communication and Assistive Technology Team, etc. Membership of professional networks for SENCO e.g. NAS, SENCO forum, NASEN etc. 11 What are the contact details of support services for the parents of pupils with special educational needs, including those for arrangements made in accordance with clause 32 (Parent Partnership Services)? Kent Parent Partnership Service (KPPS) provides free, impartial, confidential, advice, support and options around educational issues for parents who have children with special educational needs or disabilities (0-19). They empower parents to play an active and informed role in their child s education. They can be contacted on

9 HELPLINE: Office: and Minicom: What are the school s arrangements for supporting pupils with special educational needs in transferring between phases of education or in preparing for adulthood and independent living? At Rusthall St. Paul s we work closely with the educational settings used by the pupils before they transfer to us in order to seek the information that will make the transfer is a seamless as possible. Our Reception teacher(s) and Teaching Assistant(s) visit the feeder pre-schools as well as making a home visit for all pupils coming into our Reception class. If there are any additional needs or concerns prior to starting school, a transition meeting may be held with parents, Specialist Teacher, class teacher and SENCo in Term 6 before the child starts school. We also contribute information to a pupils onward destination by providing information to the next setting. Year 6 staff and/or the SENCo meet with Year 7 staff of most schools where our pupils transfer to. We complete their paperwork and assist in any way we can, ensuring that they have all the information needed for a smooth transition into secondary school. 13 Where is information on the local authority s local offer published? The local authority s local offer is published on and parents without internet access should make an appointment with the SENCO for support to gain the information they require. Approved by Teaching and Learning Next review on.